In 1915, the Alaska Engineering Commission built thirteen cottages for its employees on Government Hill, across the basin from the townsite. Only six of these cottages are recognizable, although others may exist under many layers of alterations. The identical three-room cottages were one-and-a-half stories, measuring 23 feet by 34 feet. Steeply pitched gable roofs were echoed in the pitch of gable-roofed porches in the gable fronts. The simply ornamented houses also had exposed rafter ends.
The best example is the cottage at 223 West Harvard, which retains its four-over-four-light windows, and the front porch enclosed with large four-light windows. It has been covered, however, with fake-brick asphalt siding. The cottage at 255 West Harvard retains its original form and is covered with clapboards. The window sash and the porch have been altered, however.